Andrew, with respect, and I love Nick Park stuff, there is a certain scene in "It Came From Beneath The Sea", 1955, it caused much talk between myself and Mike Hankin, author of Ray's three vol. books and Ernie Farino, long time friend and effects technician, ( Vidar's
"The Thing") that defeated us all, the scene with the flame thrower on the tentacle, it is behind, and in front, we could not solve it,
Ray had forgotten himself, the point being, technology has advanced, but a Ray Harryhausen film was a stamp of class, Disney, with all their money didn't come close, their idea of animation was the cartoon kind, never the live action, Ray left a helluva gap when he left us. Matching live action and a model is a skill gone, CGI is common, the special has gone out of effects, but animation of a model is now
an army of technicians that do the same as one man did, Harryhausen. Nick Park is a group of people, Ray was a loner. Indeed he will never be eclipsed, a one off.